The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1887-10-20
HARVARD COLLEGE NOTES.
PROFESSOR DRUMMOND, F. II. S..
breaches TO THE STUDENTS.
ssChristianily Has Come to Leaven, to
Salt, to Tighten the World. 1t Lifts
Men and Nations to Higher Piane.''

''Cnr1StlAnIty has come 10 LHaVcn, 10
Salt, to Tighten the World. 1t Lifts
Men and Nations to a Higher Piane.''
Especial Cor STATE CHRoNICLE]
CAMBRIDGE, Mass, Oct. 10, 18S7.-Prof.
Henry Drummond, F. R. S., of the Uni
versity of Edinburg, Scotland, who with
Professors Simpson and Greenfield and two
students of the medical department of that
University, is here investigating the relig
ious condition of our American colleges,
preached last night in Appleton Chapel to
large number Of Harvard men. All that
he said was so good that 1 reproduce
his sermon, or lecture, in part, for your
readers. Professor DrummOnd is typical
Scotchman, and reminds me very much of
some of our North Carolina Scotchmen of
the Cape Fear region. He is tall and slen-
der, with sweet and earnest face orna-
mented with sandy moustache and whis-
kers, and voice low, we'll mOdulated and
admirably we'll suited to what he has to
say. He speaks with a decided Scottish
accent and pronOunces many Of his words
(notably words in 90 and " as we hear
them pronounced in Cumberland, Robson
and Richmond, and there is the same dis
position of his vest and trousers to part
company that we see in many of our good
North Carolinians of the same region.
After stating the purpose of his visit
the religious condition of our colleges, he
said that his University sent a cricket
eleven to Australia, an athletic team to
New York, that his country men had just
sent over the Thistle, to show how grace
fully they could submit to a beating from
our Volunteer, and it was not surprising
that in the most important of all things,
religion, they should want to send greet
ings. He wanted especially to interest the
large class of outsiders in Christian work
those who were neither anti Christians
nor Christians, but rather, as Huxley says
he himself is extra Christians. 1t is the
part of Christianity to denOunce all that
is untrue and impure, and if Christians are
found inconsistent it is narrow IN outsiders
to turn their backs They should rather
come into the fold and strengthen it. So
broad a thing as religion will always have
men in it who do not understand it or live
up to its principles, and it is narrow to be
intOlerant Of the intolerance of some Chris
tians. The terms on which we would ask
men to become Christians are very simple.
One Is that you are to denOunce cant and
sanctimonlousnesS, and all methods that
are vulgar and untrue much as those
who are not Christians. Undue solemnity
should be discouraged. A young man
ought TO be "a Christian as a young man.
and not as his grandmother But most
young men are apt to undervalue the emo
tional side of their natures. college
president told ME the other day that his
students declaimed against the emotions,
and that half of them came back from
their summer vacation engaged. In our
religious work at Edinburgh We allow no
interference with the students work.
Sunday evenings we meet together, but the
meetings started there three years ',go
inv Md fhn JTnix Jfx nd
have altered the entire tone of it. 1t has
succeeded in elevating the character and
aspirations of large proportion of the
| students. Students were expected to make
their studies of paramount Importance
| while in college, and then. too, there must
be no interference with amusements.
Athletics were encouraged, and to-day the
| best Christian men are the best athletes in
Edinburgh. Many men who before took no
interest in their studies now lead their
classes, and the majority of the prizemen
are Christian men. One of the first require
ments Christianity makes of them is that
they be mot slothful in business" \
party of medical students in our Univer-
| sty have hired house in the slums of the
city and live there, hoping that by a good
example and simple encouraging words,
| they may lift the neighborhood out of its
squalor One of the rooms has around it
silver cups won by its occupant in boat ra-
| ces. Another man who lives there is the
only man from the University in the inter
national football team. The private belief
Of man need never be interfered with in
his becoming Christian. Every man may
| keep his own individuality. Theology and
philosophy are for the few, but religion is
| for the many. Honest doubt is not sin.
Christ himself was fond of skeptics, and
that very spirit of investigation which is
keeping many men out Of Christianity is
the very best thing they could bring into
it. Many men never come into the church
because there are some things that they do
not understand. But do you understand
all the wonders of the Universe? and, if
you did, would life be worth livinga Do
we enjoy any knowledge long after we have
gotten it? Christ says, ''Come unto me
and l will give you rest Philosophy and
| Nature say, ''Come unto me and will give
you pArest." But these are largely doubts
that can never be cleared up, and when
you commit yourself to Christ you do not
commit yourself to any system of theology.
There are twelve gates to the kingdom of
heaven, and each one single pearl. There
are three to the East and three to the West,
three to the North and three to the South.
There is one suited to every grade of be-
lief that man may have. We do not ex-
pect Phillips Brooks and Sam Jones to &C
in at the same gate, and if you cannot &C
in at the one your companion chose an
other stands open to you. Spiritual knowl
edge comes from obedience more than from
thought. Great teachers associate learn
ing with doing rather than with teaching
l would urge You to save your souls, but
rather to save your lives. Life and talent
lie before you. You must choose what te
do with them. Christianity, instead o.
trying to destroy ambition, tries rather to
fulfill it. II you wish to be great, Chris
tianity says, ''Whosoever will be grea
among you, let him serve" 1t Is not grea
to be m1nistered unto but to minister. 4
young man in the scientific department. ;
Christian young man, came to me troubled
over unmistakable evidences of evolution
that he had met with in his work. Why
be an evolutionst if your careful observa
tions and honest convictions forge you Il
it. Natures laws will take you up to a ce:
tain height, but not beyond. and the re spir
uality comes to the rescue and takes yol
higher. That is evolution. Christianity
has come to leaven, to salt, and to lighter
the world. To lpayen is to lift, and tina
Christianity is doing for cities and nations
, 1t is raising them to a higher llane,
salts the world for 1t keeps it from corrup
; tion, and 1t lightens it, dispelling tn,
darkness of doubt and unbelief Som
eminent preacher has said; ''Show me tel
square miles where there is no Christian
l a. u L. -lu1